Cowboys Stadium ‘virtual’ lock’ over Tampa as first title game host

In the nine months or so since a four-team playoff was announced, an ever-growing school of thought was that Cowboys Stadium would play host to the first championship game following the 2014 season.

Next month, that should officially become a reality.

Citing sources familiar with the process, Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com reports that, yes, Cowboys Stadium is a “virtual lock” as the site of the inaugural title game. It appears that most other potential sites saw the writing on the wall as well; Tampa Bay was the only other city to submit a bid, which McMurphy points out was likely an effort to improve its chances of landing future games.

An official announcement is expected during the last full week of April, during a meeting of BCS commissioners.

If this development comes to fruition, the sites for the 2014 playoffs would be set: the two semifinal games in Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl) and New Orleans (Sugar Bowl), on New Year’s Day 2015, with Arlington, Tex. (Cowboys Stadium), hosting the title game 11 days later.

The Orange Bowl will host one of the two semifinal games following the 2015 season, with the other site to be determined. The group overseeing the new playoff system will begin taking bids for that season’s title game before the end of summer this year.

Also to be determined are the three bowls that will complete the six-bowl rotation that will make up future national semifinals. The Chick-fil-A, Cotton (also at Cowboys Stadium) and Fiesta bowls, though, are expected to join the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls as part of that rotation.

Like the Super Bowl, they’ll need a large-capacity venue in a warm-weather state (at that time of year, anyway). Let the hoopla begin!!!

Deb says:Mar 26, 2013 2:40 PM

Uh-oh. Does that mean people who shell out for tickets will be buying nonexistent seats and have to watch the game on a big screen in the stadium basement like some of the attendees for SBXLV? Not sure I’d trust Jerrah with this assignment.